Is Deep Breathing essential for falling asleep? Seems like it

**giogoMoget2** · 11-10-2010 06:21 AM

I've been getting up at night(2am, 4am, 5:30am) and i can't go back to sleep easily as when i first go to bed(10pm). sometiimes impossible to go back to sleep. in fact the last 4 nights that i haven't been able to go back to sleep, i just couldn't.

But i noticed one trick. Deep breathing while closed eyes, and trying to think of nothing.

But the DEEP BREATHING is the part that i noticed worked. Cause i closed eyes and 30 minutes passed and i was still concious and awake.. i tried but nothing.

I noticed i was not breathing deeply. Then when i did , i noticed that i was starting to go into sleep state.

I noticed when people are asleep they are bretahing deeply IN and out. also when snoring which is many times when people are deep asleep. So it seems to me, deep breathing is what keeps us asleep.
I still had some problems falling asleep but it was much easier...i felt it in my brain going from conccious state to dreaming.

If my theory is correct, that deep breathing is what keeps us in sleep mode, why is that? What does oxygen do to keep us asleep. is it kind of like when they put a gas mask over your mouth/nose to get you asleep in surgery?

Anyways, deep breathing helped me fall asleep mucheasier these days that i have been waking up and unable to go back to sleep.

ALSO note, that I dont mean Deep breathing as in meditative breathing or having to count and get a really deep breath in. I just mean natural deep breathing like when you see people who are sleeping.

**KushyBear** · 11-10-2010 06:26 AM

Well our brain and body needs oxygen to function, whether awake or sleeping. Deep breathing is just important for sleeping because it usually means you're breathing slower, which causes your heart to beat slower and overall you're more relaxed. Try breathing deeply throughout the whole day. You mind will be much more productive and you'd notice a lot of things you normally wouldn't. Hope you know how to breathe correctly also, with your diaphragm. You should also try to breathe out more than you did in.

**giogoMoget2** · 11-10-2010 06:38 AM

Thanks. i'll keep that in mind. Ii won't give up.
Back to Lucid and dream practice , thanks

**iDreambig** · 11-10-2010 07:02 AM

I've come to the same conclusion. I notice when I can't sleep (I'll stay in deep, and I mean DEEP sleep paralysis) I try to think of nothing and start breathing really deep. I can usually see an outline of a mountain or something start to form and I'll feel very relaxed. The problem I have is simply falling asleep. No matter how much I relax my body, I can't seem to fully fall asleep. I'll be on the borderline of the dreamworld and reality with no entry way in sight, but I can still feel myself entering deeper and deeper until I just turn on my side (I sleep on my back) and fall asleep normally. It all comes from breathing deeply that gets me this far.

**giogoMoget2** · 11-10-2010 03:52 PM

Hey I experience sleep paralysis last night. it was interesting. I wasn't asleep yet but i was kind of entering sleep mode...and i could feel my limbs were starting to paralyze. That was interesting i didn't know i could start feeling paralysis even before being asleep. Sometimes my hands started feeling pins and needles, i had to shake them out.

BTW yesterday i found a way to fall backasleep and entering sleep state. : Focus on thinking nothing or focus on the center or BRIGHT parts in your view area(black that you see when you close your eyes). just focus on that and don't wonder. Then i also found that if i move my "dream eyes"(not my real eyes) above the center line of the view area once in a while, that that gets me into deeper state. It worked because i got back to sleep.

But i noticed the deeper i go, the more difficult it becomes to breath in deeply. in fact as i got to deeper concentration, my breathing was shallow. BUT actually it was not shallow.. it was deep but quiet.. not coming from the nose so much.